Fan power may lead to ban on F1 new 'stepped noses'

March 17, 2012 in Technology / Other

This photo, released in February by Lotus F1 team, shows the nose of the new E20 car which will be used for the 2012 Formula one season. Fan power may lead to a ban on the ugly new "stepped noses" on this year's cars, the sport's ruling body has conceded.

Fan power may lead to a ban on the ugly new "stepped noses" on this year's Formula One cars, the sport's ruling body has conceded.

International Motoring Federation (FIA) technical chief Charlie Whiting said that he will raise the matter as soon as he can -- hoping to remove them for next year.

"Everybody would like to see something that looks nicer," said Whiting. "So of course I will raise the question at the next meeting of the Technical Working Group."

He agreed that there had been a critical reaction from many F1 fans complaining at the new look of the cars, made as part of a way for teams to conform to new safety regulations.

"In 2014 the rules will be entirely different and there will be much, much lower noses so that problem will disappear that year, I imagine," Whiting told autosport.com.

He added that there may have been more appetite to change the noses sooner had they realised just how widespread the new style would be.

"At that point, I don't think anyone outside of the very small group of designers that were creating the cars knew what they might look like," he said.

"It was pointed out that there could be a bit of a step there, as it was put, but frankly it didn't seem important for us to get excited about.

"Hopefully we can resolve the situation, but by the time we do that maybe everyone will have got used to what we have got."